Allan St John Holt
£45 plus postage and packing
Stock No: 3013
To order books from Construction Books Direct, call 01344 630 810
Anyone who has used Allan St John Holt's books in the past can rightly expect this new publication to be packed with valuable reference data for almost every eventuality.
The construction industry operates in a "complex risk environment", which makes safety critical. Building and civil engineering firms have a heavy responsibility to take health and safety more seriously.
In the forward, Sir Frank Lampl (Barber's former employer at Bovis Lend Lease) says this book is designed "to fill the gap between a technical manual and the many topical guidance notes such as those published by the HSE". The three main sections deal with:
- Techniques of management and safety (132pp)
- Environment, health and safety issues (105pp)
- Legal requirements (29pp).
Part two contains a very good summary of typical hazards and solutions, with a quick reference guide to 50 construction topics. The book is full of valuable advice and practical help in the form of checklists, assessment criteria and so on. Just what we need to fill the gap: good, gutsy advice.
But herein lies the problem. At £45, this 275-page hardback will only find its way into the libraries of medium and larger firms or hands of the company safety officer. The real help is needed at site-management level, but I cannot see many firms' budgets stretching to provide a copy on every site.
For most building firms in the small/medium enterprise (SME) bracket, site management is the area where most of the safety "catch-up" needs to take place. Perhaps we should contemplate safety law applying to three sectors of construction – small (1-10 employees), medium (10-99) and large (100+) – with an Allan St John Holt book for each.
On another point, the author says the book assumes the reader may have no previous knowledge of law or control measures. I would contest that. The contents depict life on site with all its contractual, commercial, financial and legislative complexity, and the fact is, SMEs need a more digested, treatment. But in today's threatening environment, it's a brave man who keeps it simple.
SMEs are generally hard-pressed to make sufficient profits for their businesses, given the fiercely competitive environment. Under such pressure, how on earth can they put safety first? Safety need not be first, in spite of what we have been taught in our youth, but equal with the other factors of business.
This book is a fine addition to safety publications and will not disappoint, but it may miss its target market.
Source
Construction Manager
Postscript
Reviewed by Geoff J Barber MCIOB, who is a qualified occupational health and safety advisor with Safety Plan Services in Peterborough.